BY DAN

Saturday afternoon fans of the world’s most wonderful rugby league team got great news. Emerging star and light of my life, Hudson Young, had extended his time in the nations capital to the end of 2023. By Sunday night however, that news was less clear. Like my man Marvin said: what’s going on?

First of all, how did it get out he’d signed if he hadn’t?

The report was made by David Riccio of the Daily Telegraph, before being relayed through the feed of the trial game on the weekend by Matt Russell of Fox Sports.

We’ve noted this repeatedly in these pages, but David Riccio has become Ricky Stuart’s mouthpiece in the media in recent times. Every single major pieces of information that’s come from the club has gone through him first. If Riccio is reporting it, then it’s because Sticky has told him.

He was also congratulated by Jack Wighton and Smelly Whitehead on Instagram (thanks to JB from the Green Machine Podcast for that one). Players talk, and it’s likely that Jack and Smelly weren’t listening to commentary during the game. I suspect they know because Hudson told them.

Hudson himself told David Polkinghorne of the Canberra Times that he was keen to get a deal done but that it wasn’t final just yet.

Yeah I want to stay. I’m in negotiations with Canberra on re-signing”

“I’m not sure where they’re up to, but my manager and the club are sorting that out. I definitely want to stay here. I love the club.

Young as reported by the Canberra Times

These are the words of someone who wants to stay in Canberra, so why isn’t the deal done?

Allow me to speculate for a second. My suspicion is that a deal is all but done. Coach Stuart told David Riccio it was, chucking him a little exclusive as part of the never-ending dance to maintain positive relationships with the media from the biggest rugby league mouthpiece in the country. Hudson thought a deal was done too, but at the last minute his manager found a ‘i’ that wasn’t quite dotted right and a ‘t’ that needed crossing (likely a small matter around incentives or something). The manager got Hudson to get out in front of the media to say ‘we’re not quite done’. Sound likely?

I suspect this deal will get done sooner rather than later. The Raiders want to keep Hudson, and Hudson wants to stay in Canberra. Everything about this screams “over before you knew it”. Once that’s done we can get carried away with how good a deal this will be for both sides.

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